1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a snorkel and a mouthpiece assembly of the snorkel, and more particularly, to a snorkel comprising a whistle and a mouthpiece assembly of the snorkel.
2. Descriptions of the Related Art
When participating in aquatic, underwater or snorkeling sports, people need to wear a snorkel so that they can still breathe the air over the water surface even when their heads are under the water. However, during these water activities, there may be emergency situations in which the person may need to call for help. To this end, a snorkel with a whistle has been proposed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 7,191,779 and Taiwan Patent No. TW M272744. Thereby, when the user of the snorkel encounters a danger, he or she can whistle to make a large sound for the purpose of giving an alert.
However, this kind of snorkel still has some shortcomings. In detail, with reference to FIG. 1A, there is a schematic view of a snorkel having a whistle. The snorkel 9 comprises a mouthpiece assembly 91 and a tube 92. The mouthpiece assembly 91 has a mouthpiece 911 and a whistle 912, which are located at two opposite sides of the mouthpiece assembly 91 respectively.
Generally, the mouthpiece 911 of the mouthpiece assembly 91 faces toward the user's mouth and is adapted to be bitten by the user for air exchange. In reference to FIG. 1B, when encountering a danger, the user must rotate the mouthpiece assembly 91 by about 180 degrees relative to the tube 92 to make the whistle 912 face toward the user's mouth before he can use the whistle 912. Because the mouthpiece assembly 91 and the tube 92 are assembled with each other tightly (to prevent water penetration), it is difficult to rotate them relative to each other and, consequently, the user must make great efforts to rotate them. In other words, it is substantially inconvenient for the user to rotate the mouthpiece assembly 91 to a great extent to make the whistle 912 close to the user's mouth.
Further, when the user swims, the exposed whistle 912 is subject to large water resistance, which may cause the mouthpiece assembly 91 to shake. To prevent the shaking of the mouthpiece assembly 91, the user needs to bite the mouthpiece 911 harder, which may cause user's jaw fatigue.
In view of this, an urgent need exists in the art to provide a snorkel and a mouthpiece assembly of the snorkel which can overcome at least one of the aforesaid shortcomings.